At the Palatlakaha Environmental and Agricultural Reserve Park south of Leesburg, a University of Florida agricultural research center is now a park.
It has been restored to a working farm, restored upland habitats, and recreational facilities.
What remained untouched is the focus of this hike. A ribbon of green defines the edge of the park, and within that shady space is the Dr. SJ (Joe) Stephany Memorial River Trail.
This natural footpath parallels the Palatlakaha River, a waterway that historically connected 13 lakes between Lake Harris (in Leesburg) and Lake Louise (south of Clermont).
The waterway is a ghost of its historic selfIt’s obvious from the height of the bluffs that this was once a significant river, and it’s mentioned in historic journals about the region.
But today it’s almost dry because of development along its route dropping the level of the Floridan aquifer.
It’s a cautionary tale you can walk in comfort, marveling at the many well-interpreted native plants along the 3 mile round-trip.
Bench in a beauty spotResources
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Overview
Location: Leesburg
Length: 3 mile round-trip
Trailhead: 28.734669, -81.874505
Fees: None
Restroom: at the agricultural center, plus portables by the playground
Land manager: Lake County
Phone: 352-253-4950
Dogs are NOT permitted on the trail, only in the Paw Park.
The main road into the park leads straight to the trailhead. If you turn right just before the trailhead, the side road leads to the Paw Park, playground, and fitness area, with access to the easternmost end of the linear trail just beyond the fence line on your left as you drive into the woods.
Directions
From downtown Leesburg, drive south on US 27 for 5.8 miles, crossing SR 48 (which can be reached from Florida’s Turnpike) and Palatlakaha Creek. There is a sign for the park on the right at University Drive. Turn right and drive past the retirement community and into the park. The road passes a community garden and garden center and continues towards the treeline in the distance, where you’ll find the trailhead for this hike, 1.1 miles from US 27.
Hike
Start your hike at the trail kiosk, where you can see the map that delineates this trail system. There are three colors of blazing to watch out for.
Orange blazes mark the River Trail, blue blazes are connectors, and white blazes are for a 3-mile multi-use loop that connects to River Trail.
White Trail markerSince the River Trail is in the shade and the White Trail is not, our route follows the former river bluffs.
Walk straight towards the treeline. You’ll find a trail register and a mailbox which contains a bird sighting log and trail maps, and there’s a bat house here, too.
Turn left and follow the orange blazes and start walking upstream.
Florida fringe tree near start of hikeThe Palatlakaha River rises in the Green Swamp and flows northward to Lake Harris through a chain of lakes along the western border of Lake County.
Here, the flow is so insubstantial these days that it’s named Palatlakaha Creek on the nearby highway bridge. Across the creek, you can see part of the reason why—subdivisions.
Looking across Palatlakaha CreekThis region has undergone extreme high-density growth over the past two decades, which means more water pulled from the aquifer, affecting the waterways.
The delights of this footpath are many. It’s in deep shade under a tightly-knit canopy of ancient live oaks, some with a girth that speaks to centuries of growth.
Live oaksIt’s on high bluffs, so you can see down into oxbow bends and pools along the waterway, where willows and spatterdock grow and cypresses rise from the narrow but deep chasm.
And it’s graced with 40 interpretive markers highlighting native plants, making this an educational experience as well.
Grapevines along the shady corridorLook for hand-hewn cypress posts along this first part of the route, perhaps part of a boundary fence for a pioneer homestead.
Pass the first at 0.3 mile near a bench. Saw palmetto grows thickly under the oaks.
Trail corridorStep over the limb of an oak that’s embedded itself into the footpath. Watch your head while walking this trail, due to the low-hanging limbs.
At 0.5 mile reach Marker C, your first opportunity to loop back on the White Trail to the beginning, and a bench. Continue straight.
Bracken fernDuck under low-hanging oak limbs as the trail swings out by the water. There’s a bench at a pretty overlook soon after.
Watch for a cat-faced pine on the right, a sign of turpentine tapping done more than 50 years ago. Bluebird boxes are scattered throughout the woods.
Low hanging oaksMarker D provides another loop opportunity at a picnic table under a massive live oak. Continue straight.
A bench sits beneath a cypress right along the waterway, where cypress knees rise like crooked fingers from the duff.
CypressMarker E is the final spot for a loop back along the White Trail, at 1 mile.
The trail descends and crosses a bridge over a dry side channel where royal ferns rise out of the streambed.
Virginia willowA willow marsh edged by sawgrass fills a low spot, with a cypress along its shore surrounded by slender knees like the pnematophores of a black mangrove.
Follow the orange blazes over the hills and around the saw palmetto until you come to trail’s end at a bench on the river.
In the shadowy waterway are the remains of a historic bridge with hand-hewn cypress footers and logs. Turn around here.
Retrace your steps. Use any of the cross-trails at Markers E through C to make a loop with the White Trail, or stay on the River Trail, which is prettier and in the shade.
Shaded corridorWhen you get back to Marker B, keep walking straight along the shady corridor. There are more identified plants here, and high-bush blueberries laden with blossoms.
Traffic noise increases as you’re drawing towards US 27. There are ancient oaks here, too, with a solid understory of saw palmetto beneath them.
Ancient oaksThe trail reaches Marker A, another place to loop back on the White Trail to the start, and turns left past a creekbed filled with royal ferns.
When you reach the fenceline, turn right and loop back around to Marker A.
GazeboContinue back from here the way you came or head into the open field on the White Trail to pass a large gazebo on a hill.
When you get back to Marker B, you’ve completed the hike. Make sure you sign out and leave a note in the log about any wildlife or birds you see—we watched a rat snake climb up a tree!
Rat snake climbing an oakTrail Map
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Slideshow
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